Apple and GT Advanced Reach Settlement on Remaining Sapphire Debt

[69Mustang]

I know everyone is talking about the Droid Turbo2 and the videos where it does not shatter even after being dropped. AWESOME. But maybe I missed it but how is it in terms of scratch resistance?

I have had each and every iphone and I have never dropped my phone to the point where it cracked or broke, but I have had scratch issues, so for me that is a higher priority. And in this vein, I do not think that sapphire is passe, since I know of nothing that is better.

This is probably revisionist history on my part, so take this with a grain of salt. Before rumors of Apple using sapphire as a phone screen there wasn't much discussion about scratches. Shattered and cracked screens? Is there one among us who hasn't cracked, or knows someone who's cracked their screen? Heck I see people daily walking around with phone screens that could double as an impromptu lancet for bloodletting. Aesthetics aside, scratches can be mitigated by a simple, inexpensive screen cover. I know there are some who don't like screen covers, but it's an easy fix for scratches. Not so great for cracks.

I always assumed Apple would be using pure sapphire screens for phones; instead opting for an bonded amalgam of sapphire and ion strengthened glass like GG. The scratch resistance of sapphire weighed against its deficiencies made it a sub par choice in my opinion. I think Apple dodged a bullet with GT. An expensive bullet, yes, but a bullet dodged nonetheless.

edit: I just took an unofficial, informal survey of me, myself, and I. It's unanimous. We all agree that shatter resistance is more critical than scratch resistance. Myself tried to interject opposing arguments but a rabbit punch to the kidney shut him right up. Consensus is a wonderful thing.

 

[2457282]

This is probably revisionist history on my part, so take this with a grain of salt. Before rumors of Apple using sapphire as a phone screen there wasn't much discussion about scratches. Shattered and cracked screens? Is there one among us who hasn't cracked, or knows someone who's cracked their screen? Heck I see people daily walking around with phone screens that could double as an impromptu lancet for bloodletting. Aesthetics aside, scratches can be mitigated by a simple, inexpensive screen cover. I know there are some who don't like screen covers, but it's an easy fix for scratches. Not so great for cracks.

I always assumed Apple would be using pure sapphire screens for phones; instead opting for an bonded amalgam of sapphire and ion strengthened glass like GG. The scratch resistance of sapphire weighed against its deficiencies made it a sub par choice in my opinion. I think Apple dodged a bullet with GT. An expensive bullet, yes, but a bullet dodged nonetheless.

edit: I just took an unofficial, informal survey of me, myself, and I. It's unanimous. We all agree that shatter resistance is more critical than scratch resistance. Myself tried to interject opposing arguments but a rabbit punch to the kidney shut him right up. Consensus is a wonderful thing.

I have to agree that when you look around you see a lot of people walking around with broken screens. It amazes me that folks take so little care of something that is costing them closer to USD$1000 than not. As I stated in my personal use case that does not happen.

But every study i have read also states that one leads to another. In other words, the leading cause of cracks is scratches as the stress of drop will cause the screen to break along the scratch lines. I agree that what apple was attempting to do was an amalgam where the sapphire would replace the need for the screen protector and that alone would reduce the cracking. They already use sapphire in the touch id and in the camera and I have never heard of anyone scratching or cracking those components - and yes they are significantly smaller.

I don't know what the Droid is doing but if they have addressed both cracks and scratches without sapphire, then it is a feat and they certainly deserve kudos. And as you state may be the direction the industry goes. Me, I want that 18k rose gold iPad Pro with a sapphire screen

 

[SteveBlobs]

Nobody cares, because that was just a conspiracy theory concocted by internet commentators operating on half-facts and ignorance. The FTC usually works differently.

The Wall Street Journal counts as internet conspiracy theorists? http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10...before-apple-announcement/?mod=rss_Technology

"One day before Apple announced that its new iPhones would not use sapphire screens made by GT Advanced Technologies, the supplier’s chief executive sold more than 9,000 shares of GT stock, for $160,000."

I guess you just chock that up to a coincidence. Its about time we got as hard on white collar crime as we are on other offenses.

 

[mw360]

The Wall Street Journal counts as internet conspiracy theorists? http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10...before-apple-announcement/?mod=rss_Technology

"One day before Apple announced that its new iPhones would not use sapphire screens made by GT Advanced Technologies, the supplier’s chief executive sold more than 9,000 shares of GT stock, for $160,000."

I guess you just chock that up to a coincidence. Its about time we got as hard on white collar crime as we are on other offenses.

You originally said he sold all his stock on that day.

The article you're quoting concedes (down in the dull paragraphs nobody reads) that 98.4% of his share sell-off that year occurred on unremarkable days. So it's only 1.6% of the coincidence you want it to be. That's what I'm talking about with 'half facts'.

 

[69Mustang]

I have to agree that when you look around you see a lot of people walking around with broken screens. It amazes me that folks take so little care of something that is costing them closer to USD$1000 than not. As I stated in my personal use case that does not happen.

But every study i have read also states that one leads to another. In other words, the leading cause of cracks is scratches as the stress of drop will cause the screen to break along the scratch lines. I agree that what apple was attempting to do was an amalgam where the sapphire would replace the need for the screen protector and that alone would reduce the cracking. They already use sapphire in the touch id and in the camera and I have never heard of anyone scratching or cracking those components - and yes they are significantly smaller.

I don't know what the Droid is doing but if they have addressed both cracks and scratches without sapphire, then it is a feat and they certainly deserve kudos. And as you state may be the direction the industry goes. Me, I want that 18k rose gold iPad Pro with a sapphire screen

Whether by carelessness or accident (cuz in life, ish happens) people break stuff. Heck they break cars that cost exponentially more than a simple phone. Sometimes that simple phone is the cause for the broken car
I've never read a study such as the ones you have. Everything I've read acknowledges scratches can exacerbate cracking but nothing says cracked had to be scratched (unless we're talking microscopically, but I'd prefer to not go down that rabbit hole). A brand new phone with no scratches can crack when dropped. I think there's a youtube vid of some guy doing just that. Part of the protection for the sapphire in watches, tID, and lenses is small size and thickness. It would be pretty hard to correlate that to a phone screen which would be thinner, have a larger surface area, and natural fracture points in the corners.

I guess I've been lucky. I've never had an issue with scratches, so it could very well be a case out of sight out of mind for me. I have cracked screens in the past so my focus may be there. Maybe someone will come up with a solution that address both. The Droid Turbo2's screen is more about fracture mitigation. Scratches, not so much. I'm not a Verizon fan so that automatically nixes that phone as a choice for me.

 

[Cayden]

Seems to be a mistake in the article as it says "sapphire for the iPhone 6 and 6s Plus" but it should be "6 and 6 Plus"

 

[RockSpider]

Remember when we were all hoping for sapphire iPhone screens and liquid metal frames?

All gone to dust. I guess it's all aluminium for the foreseeable future. I wonder if we might see a return to a glass back like the iPhone 4? It was such a fine design.

They can't go back to a glass back, they'd be copying Samsung.

 

[cdm283813]

I know everyone is talking about the Droid Turbo2 and the videos where it does not shatter even after being dropped. AWESOME. But maybe I missed it but how is it in terms of scratch resistance?

I have had each and every iphone and I have never dropped my phone to the point where it cracked or broke, but I have had scratch issues, so for me that is a higher priority. And in this vein, I do not think that sapphire is passe, since I know of nothing that is better.

Yes; the panel on the Droid Turbo 2 is very easy to scratch but the exterior film is also very easy to replace. It is labeled by Motorola as being user replaceable. I personally would take off the plastic film and replace is with an after market glass screen protector which is a dime a dozen nowadays Based on my experience if you shatter the glass protector it's still held in place with the bonding film.
I played with the Turbo 2 yesterday and the feel of the plastic protector is very hard. No one would really know the difference unless you told them.

 

[ActionableMango]

The Wall Street Journal counts as internet conspiracy theorists? http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10...before-apple-announcement/?mod=rss_Technology

I read the article. It's a bit short and light on details, but ostensibly it looks like he followed the rules.

Executives can't just sell all their shares 1 day before a big event like that, which is what you are implying that he did. Executives obviously and unavoidably have insider information, so by SEC rules they are required to notify the public with their buy/sell intentions well ahead of time. This gives regular shareholders a chance to read the tea leaves and actually beat the executives to the punch by buying/selling first. According to the timeline in the article, this process occurred over several months. It's the exact opposite of the "1 day dump" narrative you are trying to portray.

Shareholders had plenty of time to see his intent to sell large lots of stock. They likely either paid no attention to their investment, or they got greedy and stayed in, with dreams of the big Apple money to come.

I do agree with you that we should be tougher on white collar crime. I'm also disappointed that the Supreme Court didn't look into the insider trading case sent before them. And furthermore I think it's wrong that Congress is exempted from insider trading laws (yes, really)--this allows corporations to trade insider information for favorable laws, a completely legal method of bribing Congress as long as they are careful about not explicitly making it a 1 for 1 deal. IMHO Congress are supposed to be regular citizens serving their country and they should not be exempt from laws as if they were a group of old English nobility.

I digress. Anyway, I'm sympathetic to our common cause, but I'm not seeing anything wrong in this specific case... or at least not based on the one article you linked to.